Hanger and bearing assembly for spiral conveyers



Oct. 10, 1950 v, w rr 2,524,948

I HANGER AND BEARING ASSEMBLY FOR SPIRAL CONVEYERS Filed March 28, 1947 /-/\/\/E/\/7'OE; PAULV WHITNEY,

HTT Y Patented Oct. 10, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE HANGER AND BEARING ASSEMBLY FOR SPIRAL CONVEYERS Paul V. Whitney, Columbus, Ohio, assignor to The J eifrey Manufacturing Company, a corporation of Ohio Application March 28, 1947, Serial No. 737,880

1 Claim. 198-213) Other objects of the invention will appear hereinafter, the novel features and combinations being set forth in the appended claim.

In the accompanying drawings, i

Fig. 1 is a transverse sectional view through the trough or casing of a spiral conveyer, showing the hanger and bearing assembly in elevation;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the hanger and bearing assembly of Figs. 1 and 2; and

Fig. 4 shows a modified form of hanger which may be employed.

In Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings a portion of a spiral trough conveyer is shown, including a trough type casing III in which a spiral conveyer I I is mounted, the spiral being carried on a, shaft I2. The spiral is omitted from Fig. 2 of the drawings. Shaft 12 is supported on spaced bearings, only one of which is illustrated in the drawings, said bearing in its entirety being designated by the reference character I3.

The bearing It includes a lower half I4 and an upper half I5, the two halves being split along a horizontal diameter. Said two halves cooperate to provide a cylindrical bearing surface to support the shaft I2. The bearing I3 fits in the central U-shaped portion of a one-piece symmetrical bracket or strap hanger I6 which includes a central U-shaper portion having two vertically spaced parallel portions each merging into one of two symmetrically arranged outwardly extending portions each of which terminates in a vertically downwardly extending wing I! each of which is removably bolted to the inner top surfaces of the side walls of the U-shaped trough Ill.

The lower half I4 of bearing I3 rests in and is supported by the central U-shaped portion of the bracket or strap hanger I 6 and is provided with two radially extending guiding flanges I8 which extend outwardly at opposite sides of the bracket or strap hanger I6 and hold the lower half I4 against axial movement relative to the hanger I6, the outer lower surface of said bearing half I4 being curved to provide a close fit with the curved semi-circular bottom of the U-shaped portion of said hanger I6.

The upper half of bearing I3 includes opposite si-de surfaces each flanked between two outwardly extending guiding flanges I9 which guide it into the way formed by and between the parallel spaced straps or portions of the U-shaped central portion of bracket I6 when the upper half I5 is being positioned and these flanges I9 extend at opposite sides of each of the vertically extending bracket portions to hold the upper half I5 against axial movement. The bracket I6 and the two halves of bearing 43 therefore have cooperating means to hold said bearing halves l4 and I5 in proper position when the parts are assembled as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 of the drawings.

In one known type of prior art arrangement a separate clamping strap has been provided to clamp against the top of the upper half of the split bearing and hold the parts together. In the structure here provided this clamping strap r or bar has been eliminated, thus eliminating one part which may become lost during shipment of apparatus.

In another known type one or more relatively long through bolts are provided Which extend through the top of the upper bearing half and through opposite sides of the U-shaped portion of the supporting bracket. The objection to this has been that it is generally impossible to remove this long bolt while the bracket or hanger is in the conveyer trough, thus requiring removal of the hanger to remove the bearing.

In the construction here provided it is possible to remove the upper portion or half I5 of the bearing I3 while the conveyer is still in the bracket and while the bracket is attached to the trough. This is effectuated by virtue of the cooperating structure of the upper bearing half I5 and its removable attaching mechanism which will now be described.

Adjacent its upper end and at opposite sides the upper bearing half I 5 is provided with spaced wings or flanges 20. Adjacent the strap or bar portion of the hanger I6 the central upper portion of each wing 20 is notched at 2|. If desired, a through hole may be provided in lieu of said notch.

The wings or flanges 20 are preferably thickened inwardly and are formed t receive either a machine screw head or a nut and to hold the same against rotation. As illustrated in the 3 drawings, a nut 22 is so received and held and it constitutes the clamping nut for a short bolt or machine screw 23. The bolts or machine screws 23 extend through holes in the bracket 16, similar holes for a modified bracket being seen at 24 in Fig. 4 of the drawings.

It is evident that, if desired, the bolts or machine screws 23 ma be reversed with their nuts 22 on the outside rather than on the inside. By tightening the bolts and nuts 22 and 23 it is evident that the entire assembly of the two bearing halves M and 15 will be held rigid in the U-shaped portion of the bracket 16, thus holding the conveyer shaft E2 in position. Likewise, by the simple expedient of removing these two. bolts or machine screws 23, the upper half I5 of bearing l3 may be lifted vertically upward to remove it from the bracket 10. Thereafter, the shaft l2 may be lifted out or, if desired, the lower bearing half it may be rotated 180 without removing the shaft l2, whereupon it ma be radially removed.

It is thus evident that the complete bracket and bearing assembly comprises only the bracket, the two bearing halves and two short nuts and bolts, either with or without lock washers. At the same time the bearing assembly may be radially removed and inserted without requiring removal of the bracket or hanger and without requiring removal of the spiral conveyer or shaft.

In Fig. 4 of the drawings I have illustrated a modified form of bracket H6 which differs from the bracket I6 primarily in that the wings Ill extend upwardly from the rest of the bracket rather than extending downwardly, as in bracket E6. The bracket or hanger H5 is obviously otherwise formed to accommodate this difference. It functions in cooperation with the bearing l3 and attaching nuts and bolts 22 and 23 in the same manner as above described for hanger or bracket I6.

Obviously those skilled in the art ma make various changes in the details and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined b the claim hereto appended, and I therefore wish not to be restricted to the precise construction herein disclosed.

Having thus described and shown an embodiment of my invention, what I desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

In a spiral conveyer, a U-shaped conveyer trough, a symmetrical one-piece strap hanger mounted in said trough for supporting a spiral conveyer therein, said one-piece strap hanger including a central U-shaped portion having two vertically extending spaced parallel portions each merging into one of two symmetrically arranged outwardly extending hanger portions each of which terminates in a verticall extending wing bolted to a side of said U-shaped conveyer trough, a horizontall split bearing having upper and lower halves, the lower half resting in and being supported by said central U-shaped portion of the one-piece strap hanger and having two radially extending side flange portions adapted to extend outwardly at opposite sides of said U-shaped portion of the strap hanger for preventing axial movement of the lower bearing half, the upper half of said split bearing including spaced parallel side surfaces and outwardly extending spaced side flange portions adapted to extend at opposite sides of the vertically extending spaced parallel portions of said symmetrical one-piece strap hanger, said upper bearing half also including adjacent each of said spaced upwardly extending side surfaces spaced wings forming open top notches adapted to receive a bolt extending through said hanger and to hold a nut against rotation, and a separate short bolt extending through each wing and the adjacent vertically extending portion of said one-piece strap hanger, said bolts each having an individual clamping nut in" one of said notches formed by said spaced wings, said bolts and nuts cooperating to clamp the vertically extending portions of the one-piece straphanger and the upper bearing half together, the said vertically extending spaced parallel portions of said one-piece hanger forming a wa for guiding said upper bearing half into position when said bearing is being assembled.

PAUL V. WHITNEY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 265,078 Hewitt Sept. 26, 1882 1,012,008 Post Dec. 19, 1911 1,820,216 Ferris Aug. 25, 1931 2,279,201 Kozak Apr. 7, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 265,572 Germany Oct. 10, 1913 

